Fallacies abound in oppositiion to government health reform

In a previous letter, “Healthcare Oversight is Beyond Government’s Competence” (Dec. 23), the author states that the government has no business regulating or “running” hospitals or health care because there is no specific mention of these areas in the original language of the federal constitution.

This is not surprising, since there was no healthcare system in existence at that time, and indeed the modern versions of private insurance plans did not begin to take shape until around the 1920s. Likewise, the constitution does not specifically mention anything about the regulation of the telecommunication and broadcast industries, environmental laws, workplace safety, food and drug regulation, and a host of other areas that were technically inconceivable or not on the radar of our colonial forebears, as prescient as they may have been.

Another often mentioned fallacy is the statement that reform will lead to a complete government takeover of the healthcare industry, implying that all personal decisions about testing and treatment options will be taken out of the hands of individual patients and doctors. This conveniently overlooks the extent to which this power already resides in the hands of the insurance companies. You can debate which entity is more trustworthy or responsive to individual concerns, but that train left the station when the payment model for the majority of people changed from fee-for-service to pre-paid insurance. It also ignores the reality that the federal government is already responsible for around 40 percent of healthcare spending in the form of programs like Medicare, Medicaid and the VA, so government involvement is not exactly a new concept.

It is illuminating that the vocal opponents of changes in the distribution and regulation of health care often rely on overly simplistic characterizations and scary fiction rather than factual discussions to back up their positions. It’s a shame that such an important topic, which has real implications for so many citizens, is often reduced to yet another war of sound bites. Gregory K. MirandaWorcester RoadPrinceton